When a real estate agent walks into a new homes sales center with his customer, the 
sales person at the community can be certain of only one thing…that there’s a real estate agent in the sales center.
My point being…builders feel an uncertainty about what type of agent they are about to encounter and what kind of experience lays ahead of them when that door opens. They wonder… Is it an agent who’s sold new homes before? Or is it an agent who is new to new home sales? Is it an agent who feels a need to prove their worth to their client at every step? Or is it an agent who understands the construction process and otherwise “gets it”?
The reality is that any one of these scenarios is a possibility and every one of them has been seen before at a community near you. This is understandable since not all real estate agents sell new homes. But like with almost everything else in life, the more you do it, the more comfortable and confident you become. There’s certainly no reason to fear selling new homes. On the contrary, selling new homes as an Agent can open up new inventory to you and can actually be a competitive advantage in your personal marketing.
Here are five tips that can help Agents without much new homes sales experience enter the world of new homes sales smoothly.
1. Make a preemptive visit. The best way to understand what you are walking into when you bring your client to a new homes community is to visit before you bring your client. Again, this suggestion is for those without much experience selling new homes, which is estimated to be about 70% of agents. Talking with an onsite sales person will give you an opportunity to voice any concerns and questions you might have without having to do so in front of your client. This would be a good time to find out about commission policies, construction expectations, product details, etc. It’s also good to know the sales people by name, so that when you walk through the door, you look like you’ve been there before.
2. Talk to a seasoned new homes agent. You will likely have no shortage of questions. Some of them will likely include: How long does it take to build a home once your customer has selected one? The answer to that varies depending on the type of builder (volume or custom), sales backlog, sub-contractor scheduling, etc. How is the sales contract different from what I’m used to? When can I expect the builder to pay my commission? What kind of challenges and successes have you had selling new homes? Educating yourself on the front end will help ease concerns and makes you look like a seasoned professional.
3. View the onsite as a teammate. Look, the reality is that onsite sales people want to work with you, and want to help you sell your customer a home. But what happens all to often is that an inexperienced agent feels the need to prove to his customer that he’s the smartest person in the room…thereby justifying his position with their client. This pits agent against onsite. In fact, a recent Builders Update builders’ survey found this issue to be one of the biggest challenges builders face when working with new agents. This chest thumping does little to help the sales process along. In just about all cases, an agent and an onsite have the same motivation, that is to find the best possible home for the buyer. It’s okay that the onsite sales person knows more about the homes in their community. They should. Let them provide the information they can to help you best advise your client.
4. Understand what can be negotiated. Negotiating sales price is not usually an option at new home communities. What are often on the table are incentives and promotions. It could be special financing, discounted options, closing cost help, etc. Knowing what’s available on the front end, makes you look good in front of the client. Where do you find this information? Well, you can obviously get it from the onsite sales person, but it’s also often found on the builders’ web sites. Many builder sites feature Agent Portals which require a secure login and provide agents this kind of information along with commissions, bonuses, etc. Of course, Builders Update provides this information as well.
5. Communicate. Builders know that you own the relationship with the buyer. That said, it doesn’t hurt to remind an onsite sales person that you should either be the gatekeeper of information or at least be copied on all communications with the client. This alleviates insecurities and promotes transparency with the sales process.
At the end of the day, selling new homes should be easy. An onsite sales person does a good bit of heavy lifting from the sales and contract perspective. But as an agent new to new home sales, putting in the time to educate yourself, and going through the experience of closing a couple of new home sales, will make the process easier in the future as well as pay dividends to you and to your customers.
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